The Boy Next Door.

“Oh come ON Anne! It will be fun!!!” Mazzy exclaimed jumping up and down in my door way.

I could just here the exclamation marks in her voice but Marina’s idea of fun and MY idea of fun were do very different things, “Fun? As in getting of your face on booze and hooking up with some guy you won’t remember?”

“That’s me Julianne!! But it is a bonfire party, and you know if you hate it too much you can just walk home,” She had her puppy dog eyes on, and was looking into my own eyes. I have to admit I always break when she does that.

Dam her! “OH OK! I will come and if you get too bad, I’m dragging you straight here!”
She practically squealed with joy as she ran out of my house, “See you at 7 then!”

I mumbled around the house until it was 6 when I got ready. I decided after 10 tries on light denim short-shorts, a blue belly dancing wrap, and my rainbow striped bikini top and my beautiful vintage calf-length smoking jacket. When Mazzy arrived on my porch she was wearing a pink and blue dress that stopped just above her knees. “Oh wow Anne! You look AB-FAB!” She squealed as she touched the smoking jacket.

“You totally do too! Shall we go?” She nodded in reply and gave me her elbow and we started on our way to the bonfire which we could already see burning up the coast line.

When we finally got there, we were amazed to see a good 50 people on the beach; they were all dancing and drinking. Marina nudged me in the ribs to show me a hot guy sitting all alone on a log; he looked strangely familiar with his tousled mess of dark curls. I leant over to Mazzy’s ear to whisper, “Go on, take your prey I will be fine here,” I gave her a shove to tell her to go. She didn’t exactly need much encouragement, with a blink of an eye she was over at the log introducing herself. I was glad to see that he seemed to be showing equal interest back at her.

I did a quick 360 of the party, trying to spot my own prey. Sadly no one caught my eye so I went over to the large esky. I rummaged around in the cold ice and cans trying to find something decent, I was finally satisfied with a can of corona and walked back to the blazing fire.

I moved my hips to the thumping beat that was filling the air slowly getting into a better mood about this party.

I gasped when two hands came and covered my eyes, a voice chuckled at my reaction and said, “Guess who...”

I was never one for guessing games so I tried to swivel on the spot to see the face of the mystery man. “Tut tut, where’s your sense of mystery.” He continued holding me in place and covering my eyes.

So I raised my hands and gently removed his bony hands from my eyes, catching him off guard I quickly spun to face him.

I couldn’t believe it, it was actually the guy from the beach this morning, that’s why his voice seemed so familiar to me. “It’s you! The guy from the beach.” His expressions turned a way I wasn’t expecting; he seemed confused that I would remember such a thing.

“You mean, wait, you do know who I am right?” He asked with a crease in his brow

“Well you haven’t told me your name but I think you’re some random American boy band guy and I’m pretty sure my mother and best friend know EXACTLY who you are.”

“But you have no idea?” His voice had certain happiness to it, I was shocked in awe. I couldn’t find my voice to reply so I simply nodded my head at which his face erupted in the most joyful smile I have ever seen. “Right well, excuse my rudeness then, I am Joe Jonas.”

“Julianne Jurien.” I smiled back at him as he grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the party.